Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-21
NEW YORK LETTER.
THE WAYS OF JEW YORK spoRrsMYN,
TxREIs, BASEBALL. &C.
Ives and Els Cotsrie, s.,yper and
keyer-sich Janitors-Gsrman
Customs in the Cafe.
Correspondence Of the Richmond pI.patch.l


New YORK, August 30, 1887.
While the papers are discussing the
"tennis elbow" the "croquet back"
and the "pitcher's arm, the distinctive
types of New York sportsmen and
sporting-men are being overlooked.
1he man grows to resemble the sport
he affects. Who could ever mistake
the TERMS young man for the baseball
enthusiast? j met the tennis-playing
young man at the Grand Central sta
ton Yesterday. He saw me from afar,
and his lower jaw fell, revealing a dark
ling chasm fringed by a varied, rec
tangulaf, and unique assortment OF
teeth.
"Haw, ne brave boy" he yelled,
amiablv. "wharc v goin', eh 2"
cont Of town. | said, shaking hands
with him.
"Why. what a devilish odd coinci-
dence. Som /. I'm goin' up t Siam
furd { do some tennis, y know. Liv-
iugstone, the champion, will be thare.
Great player LIVE. Know him?
Met him once.
"He has the best beck handed stroke
in the world" &C, &c.
We sat together, snd | listened for
an hour daring the run towards New
port to about the silliest rot magma
bic about the game OF lawn tennis, and
the people who I" loyedit passionateiy."
There were eight or ten lawn-tennls
men in the car on their way 10 the tour
n,ment, and | amused myself by com
p-ring them. They were all strikingly
slim and gaunt. 4 fat man playing
tennis would be divcrting spectacle,
but by no means common one. All
the tennis yOung men wore very high
collars, and they displayed tendency
to 1un to red eyelids and yellow and
cigarette. stained fingers. The necks
had a sort Of tozzle-jointed appearance,
and they wore brilIiantly-flgured shirts.
knickerbockers, and feet that spread
with vast and billowy firmness over the
floor Of the car. / don't think any Of
them weighed more than 100 pounds.
THE BASEBALL ENTHUSIAST,
on the other hand, runs to extensive
ayoirdupOis. He never plays. He is
far too wise for that, but he speaks the
lingo of the game even when he Is
asleep, and by day he sits and acquires
additional weight while watching the
game. It's a great game, aad has in 1t
more excitement and keen enjoyment
than the most hotly-contcsted horse
race in the history of the turf. The
grand stand at the backgrounds is lite
rally jammed 10y stout, solemn, double
chInned, judicial, and taciturn mon,
who sit day after day in their accus-
toned seats, grayely watching the
game. They are not given to undu.
enthusiasm, and look with annoyance
and contempt on the younger aud more
noisy element, but when a really tech
bical md absolutely clever play is
T. sdo thoy shake of their lelhargy like
q fash and roar their applause i'll a
fashion that would cause school of
-ca.lions to hide their shiny heads in
clacrin and retire into the mud dis
mayed.
The E-GOlHG MAN
grows daft by the time the season is as
far advanced as this. he can talk no.
thing Int horse, anu he knows the cards
for month ahead. \ iield-glass, col
ored linen, white overgaiters, and a
sporting scarf are the Legitimate results
OF his inistuation. and aaturall y enough
he is not ashamed of them. The racing
man is of any age, position, or condition,
for the sport appeals 10 all men. It's a
noble sport, too, despite the clerical
cToakers.
The rowing man is usually silent and
bis head hangs forwsrd. while the
fighting man holds his head well back
and talks. The bicycle man is a stupen-
dous lore for some inexplicable REL
son, and "a shudder goes around when
he mentions "mc wheel. The yachts
man to-day is cock OF the walk with his
bronzed skin, hearty voice, and know
ii-all air about the capabilities of the
Volunteer and the Thistle. lie issecure
Of popularity until the snow flies, for
this will be the greatest yachting year
over known in the history OF the sport.
FRESH FACTS ABOUT TIE IVES CorERIE.
Ives, Stayner, and their allies are
likely 60 occupy public attention for
some time 10 come. And, by the way,
there are n few facts concerning these
PERSONS Which by some chance have not
arpcaled IN pablo print even il they
aIe generally known. Ives, for instance,
is said to have once been clerk for
Harper 4 Brothers, the publishers.
He really began as bell-boy for Jo-
seph Harper when he was seventeen
wears old and later became a clerk Iii
The establishment. But he was young
eagle in dove-cote. 1t was too quiet
and peaceful. Ee wanted TO enter
that .Gehcnna Of speculative excite
mcnt, Wall street, and lie did when he
WIS about twenty years old. He was
bright. promising boy, with pleasant,
irgrGtiaiing manners, and readily OBJ
toned place, lie was with number
Of fms, and the list has never been
correctly stated in print, though OF
course it is not IN important matter.
i'e is said to have been discharged
rom one place for dishonesty. AS he
crew older, bat while still IL clerk, he
spcculated in fifty and one hundred
shares and bought puts and calls. by
hook and by crook he got together
enough money TO go into the brokerage
business himself, and the sequel IS that
he former bell-hoy fails for the nomi-
nal sum OF SIS, C00.G00.
DISTINGUISHED MEN.
On one occasion | talked to Ives At
his office for some minutes under the
impression that he was one OF the
clerks. Ills Office is On the southwest
corner OF Nassau and Cedar streets,
within a short distance from where
Aaron Burr once lived and within a
stone's-throw of the site of the ancient
Dutch church, onc0 occupied by the
pOst-oflice, and where now stands one
Of the finest Of the commercial palaces
of New York. There, by the way, ex-
President Arthur had his law Offices
Nassau street is one OF the Oldest
thoroughfares in the city; it was laid
ont two hundred years ago and was
named il honor of William of Nassau,
or, as he is generally known in history,
William III. OF England. Washing
ton. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron
Burr, Tsll.yrapd, Louis Philippe, and
Washington Irving, and in later times
Emerson, General Grant, and many
others of wide celebrity have passed
slowly along the ancient thoroughfare.